Thursday, January 18, 2018

Here we have one of the earliest pieces of Distractions history, courtesy of Stuart Murray and Mark Windsor of those other legendary Manchester post-punk groups, Fast Cars and V2. It was in Sounds in late 1978 or early '79, featuring TJM Records, Tony Davidson's famous Manchester label.

Tony takes up the story. "The advert was in Sounds music paper and it was of the first 5 releases on the TJM label. It was a half-page advert and cost £600 plus VAT. At this stage of the record company it was all systems go, to get as much profile and sales for TJM as possible. Looking back, I was taking the profits from the rehearsal rooms and pouring them into the record label. Many thanks to Stuart Murray for the memory."

Note how The Distractions' debut demanded more copies than Mick Hucknall's Frantic Elevators!

Thursday, January 4, 2018

The Distractions''Kindly Leave The Stage' has appeared on a number of Best of 2017 lists. Here's the first, thanks to Dave Steinfeld (Staff Writer / Archive Creator) at Blurt. The eagle-eyed will also see The Granite Shore's extraordinary album, 'Suspended Second', and The June Brides' 'Three Wishes - Part Time Punks Sessions'(with Aberdeen and 14 Iced Bears), listed by Tim Hinely (Senior Editor / Zines & 45 Ed. / Mile High Club). These wonderful records feature the Distractions' Nick Halliwell, Stephen Perrin, Arash Torabi and Ian Henderson on 'Suspended Second', and Arash plays bass in the June Brides.

The Distractions are the stuff of post-punk legend: an obscure band from Manchester, England who made one critically acclaimed album in the early '80s and promptly vanished. The title of their third long-player says it all. 'Kindly Leave The Stage' is their swan song from singer Mike Finney, guitarist/songwriter Steve Perrin and their mates. While the opening track, “A Few Miles More”, is catchy, it isn’t happy. And after that, the album is basically one long farewell. But few bands do sadness as well as The Distractions.